UAE Confirms al-Qaida Official's Arrest

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, December 23, 2002

The United Arab Emirates has confirmed its arrest and transfer to U.S. custody of an alleged top operative of al-Qaida, saying the man had been planning attacks in the Gulf state.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole, had been planning attacks on "vital economic targets" that were likely to inflict "the highest possible casualties among nationals and foreigners," the official Emirates news agency WAM reported late Monday.

The United States announced al-Nashiri's arrest in November, saying he had been detained in an undisclosed country and transferred to American custody. Western diplomats later identified the country as the Emirates, but Emirates government officials had as recently as Monday morning refused to comment on the matter.

The news agency quoted an unidentified Emirates official as saying al-Nashiri was detained in October and handed over to the United States as part of the countries' "cooperation in the war on international terrorism."

The official said that the Emirates had delayed the news of al-Nashiri's capture for "security reasons and to ensure the safety of the investigation."

The Saudi-born al-Nashiri is sought by U.S. justice officials as a close associate of Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaida group believed to have carried out the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

He is suspected of helping direct the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is also believed to have directed the Oct. 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors. U.S. officials say al-Nashiri gave telephone orders to the Cole bombers from the United Arab Emirates and may have provided them with money.

A regional financial hub, the Emirates was identified as a major transfer point for money flowing to and from the Sept. 11 hijackers. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Emirates has passed anti-money laundering legislation and frozen scores of accounts with suspected terror links.